Kilauea Day Trip

 Up early to pack some supplies and head over to the active volcano on Hawaii. We had made arrangements to meet with John & Sheila and do a day trip to the Kilauea crater which, up until a week ago, was spewing out huge jets of hot lava. 

It has since settled down but we really wanted to see it. 

Both Hugh & Simone had a restless night fighting chest colds so they bailed on the trip. Kelly, Linda, Bryan and myself loaded up the cooler, backpacks and cough candies and away we went at 07:12 am.

We met up with John & Sheila along the Hawai'i Belt Road just east of Waikoloa Village and after a short discussion, headed off to the Gilbert Kahele Recreation Area up HWY 200.   

Once there, John & Sheila gave us a complete rundown on the whole creation of the island chain, the period of time that this all transpired and the way the tectonic plates moved & shifted. They had diagrams to simplify the explanation for us neophytes. Clearly they loved this stuff and enjoyed telling us all about it!! It was great!

Our classroom today.

A timetable of earth's history!

History of the islands volcanic activity.

These are Olivina Crystals which are part of the earth's upper mantle, often found in mafic igneous rocks.

 

After a bathroom break, we headed into Hilo on Hwy 200 then took Hwy 11 to the main entrance.  $30 a car load and we were in.  We met up at the main visitor's center and had a look see.  The grass around the area was crunchy with small bits of Tephra (the crap that comes out of the volcano) Light weight glass type material.

Stained Glass at the Visitors Center

 We drove over to the steam vents and the viewpoint located there. It was amazing and really hard to capture in a photo just how big it was.

 We drove down towards the other viewpoint and after parking, hiked to the  Keanakako'l lookout.  We could see chunks of the Tephra caught on tree branches.

Hikers... about 3 km total.

 

Tephra caught on branches as it fell.

The ground is covered in Tephra which BTW is very sharp. 

What we are looking at

A bit of steam action.

A small dormant crater adjacent to the old road.

Life returns.

Once back at the cars, we headed down the Chain of Craters Road and stopped at a lookout. We had a snack and then left our wonderful guides Sheila and John. (we will see them tomorrow).

Southern coastline from the lookout. This is the area that had molten lava flowing into the ocean in 2018.

We thought about going around the southern part of the island to return to our villa but it adds approximately and hour to the return trip. We opted to go back the way we came. It just so happens that the Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut farm is just off the route... so in we went, browsed the gift shop and enjoyed a cold ice cream treat. 

Tasty!

 The drive back was uneventful and we made a quick stop at Waikoloa Village for some tissues etc and some gas for the car.

Nothing planned for dinner so after watching a lovely sunset, it was off to Tommy Bahamas for a beverage and appetizer. Simone was not feeling up to it so she stayed behind. 

Once back at the villa, a game of Five Crowns was played and Hugh came out the winner this time around. 

Steps: 9,800

Weather: Scattered and overcast skies later in the trip with 27ºC temps (cooler at higher elevations)

No Crib today..... still Dave - 5, Hugh - 4 and Kelly - 1 

Five Crowns: Hugh -1 everyone else -0